Thursday, 2 February 2012

Project Update

Happy New Year! Time has flown by since the last post and the project is progressing rapidly!

All catalogues, lists and other finding aids available at Hereford Cathedral Library have now been looked at and cross referenced, and one list of about 350 potential books from the Cwm listed. All 350 books have been examined for marks of Cwm provenance or other signs that they may have come to the cathedral from the Cwm. The 350 books break down as follows:

1. 201 books that are definitely from the Cwm
2. 37 books that are probably from the Cwm, based on marks of ownership, subject material or other provenance records
3. 78 books that are written by or about the Society of Jesus, with no other information to tie them to the Cwm
4. 14 of the books have been ruled out as extremely unlikely to have come from the Cwm as existing information suggests they probably came from elsewhere
5. Finally, 20 of the books have only so far been put in the 'query' category, as not enough information exists to rule them out, or definitely include them. More work to be done on these!

These have all been organised into various files and folder, and have also all been entered into my database, which allows them all to be cross referenced and easily searched. Next task is to analyse them in groups according to marks or inscriptions - more on this to follow soon!

Books aside, the other areas of the project have also been developing. The week before last I was lucky enough to be invited to the second ever meeting of the Herefordshire Catholic History Society, a newly formed group of individuals with wide and varied research interests in all aspects of the Catholic history of Herefordshire and the surrounding areas. Those present at the meeting in the beautiful setting of Belmont Abbey were treated to a detailed and fascinating overview of the recently catalogued archives of the Abbey by archivist Brenda Warde who is also Secretary of the Society. Brenda kindly brought several samples of the many fascinating items available at the archive, as well as printed summaries of the catalogues. Research queries should be directed to Brenda via the Abbey website.

Chairman Desmond Keohane also invited me to give an overview of my research and the Cwm project to the Society, which everyone seemed very interested in, and I have duly paid my membership for the year and promised to come back and give a detailed talk on the project in due course! The group meets again in April and is always keen to welcome new members.

The meeting also allowed me to make contact with Mrs Margaret Kelly, who used to live in the Cwm farmhouse that the Jesuits used, and is extremely knowledgeable about the history of her former home! She was able to give me many useful snippets and several new leads to follow up. Mrs Kelly also very kindly took me back to the Cwm with her and put me up for the night, which allowed me to get a real feel for the truly isolated location of the farm, as well as its ideal location near 3 county borders, as well as the Wales-England border.

Borders were of course extremely important for the Jesuits at the Cwm and the recusant community, as pursuing JP's only had jurisdiction within their own county, so to be able to flee into a different county (or country!) reduced the chances of capture. It was a real privilege to get a glimpse of the day to day surroundings of the Jesuit community at the Cwm, and an experience I hope to repeat soon!

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About the Project

Follow the development of this exciting new project, a joint venture between Hereford Cathedral and Swansea University to research and analyse the little-known Jesuit Library of the Cwm, now housed at Hereford Cathedral.
The project is a three year structured studentship funded by the AHRC and will set the Jesuit Library in its proper historical context, both from a religious perspective and its importance to the history of the region.
All comments and feedback gratefully received, and please do feel free to get in touch with questions or for further information.